For the first time in decades, there are schooners 'abuilding on the famed waterfront at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. Dawson Moreland & Associates are building not just one, but two 48' wooden schooners in the best of Maritime traditions. These 'twins' will be built simultaneously, frame for frame, plank for plank, alongside the historic Lunenburg Dory Shop at 175 Bluenose Drive. Follow their progress from keel laying to launch!

An artist's interpretation of the Twin Schooner Project

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Our girls are growing

Until Dave and the gang start framing them up, it takes a little imagination to see the two sweet schooners these keels will become. Still, when you place a few photos together, as below, it's not hard to see the progress they've been making.

In this first shot you see in the foreground one of the keels lying upside down while the ballast keel is attached, while just behind it sits the second keel, upside right with her stern post attached, all of the deadwood fitted in around the ballast keel and the beginnings of the stem.

This next shot, below, shows Dave alongside the finished stem with the still inverted keel of the other schooner just visible in the background. It's still upside down, but if you look closely you can see the deadwood is being added.

Finally, this shot gives another perspective of the stem; one from which you can start to infer the future schooners' lines. Made of super strong and durable Osage Orange, which when planed and shaped produces those sunny yellow wood chips, the stems feature a traditional Lunenburg knuckle in the bow.

Of course what these photos don't show is the temperatures in which our gang has been working. While the sun is shining, it's been hovering around minus 10 degrees Celsius all week (that's around 14 degrees Fahrenheit). Not that they ever complain.

About Me

Based on original designs inspired by the classic vessels of the age of sail, the New Lunenburg Schooners are simple, elegant cruising craft, modeled to be extremely seaworthy, sail swiftly, perform boldly and allow their proud owners to live comfortably aboard as they pursue their sailing dreams, whether that’s blue water adventures to remote islands or cruising along the coast.
Proud to be located in the historic seaport of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada, Lunenburg Schooners – a project of Dawson Moreland & Associates – are built in the tried and true, time-tested way with stout wooden planks on heavy double-sawn frames, the same techniques that created the famous “Fast and Able” North Atlantic fishing schooners Bluenose and Bluenose II of Lunenburg and the great schooners of Gloucester but using only the very best materials and finest durable timbers sourced from around the world.
Perhaps most importantly, Lunenburg Schooners are designed and crafted by shipwright-mariners who share a love for tradition and the schooner rig in particular, and who understand the value of both. As sailors themselves, they’ll share your dream and help to make it come true.